New Year’s Eve Post

2015 is almost over and it’s time to reflect on the year behind us. As you will know by now, this is my writing related blog, rather than reflecting on personal events of the year as a whole. Incidentally, it’s been an alright year all in all. First full year at uni completed, and I’m now half-way through my second. Without descending into the maudlin, I am now officially half way through my degree…

My original New Year’s Resolution was to write every day. That was an interesting one. Back when I picked it, I’m not sure that I had looked at the literature online about whether forcing yourself to write every day is the most effective way to write. All in all, I’m not convinced it was.

I managed to keep up with the goal until the exam season of June when I missed one day and then slid straight off the wagon, but up until then on some days I had only written a word or two. It wasn’t the most effective way of keeping a love for writing alive and well.

When I was at home, or had lower levels of work, it was great. I could dedicate plenty of time to storytelling.

At uni, when the workloads were mounting? It wasn’t the most effective way of looking at writing. That all changed when I abandoned my original resolution and decided to write when I feel like it, and to keep working on my novels. (Yes, now two WIPs, not just one…)

In November I sat in my chair in my room and wrote into the early hours of the morning, despite impending essay doom, and it was the most magical thing. It was a complete return to the utter freedom I had felt as a twelve or thirteen year old writing a NaNo novel for the first time.

Another thing that didn’t work quite as well as I had hoped was the whole writing by hand experiment. It meant that editing scenes is a lot harder work and has left me setting myself a goal for 2016 to blitz through the rest of the first draft of A Twisted Dance so I have it all on a computer in front of me.

The first draft of A Twisted Dance, although primarily handwritten, is a lot cleaner so far than the first draft of my other project: OMS. The first draft of OMS is a lot closer to a draft zero than anything else.

My plans for 2016 are a little more practical and tangible, and I’ll be utilising this blog in a more consistent way next year.

I want to try and finish first drafts of both A Twisted Dance and OMS and polish them up. My writing has improved this year for sure, and that’s a trend I want to continue.

Happy New Year everyone!

Emma x

Disclaimer: I’m posting this a day early but I’m sure it’ll be New Year’s Eve in some part of the world by now!